The yearly output of wrestling titles in World Wrestling Entertainment's SmackDown vs. Raw franchise generally doesn't disappoint visually, but I have to admit that a few of the brawlers in this year's title don't live up to the eye candy pedestal that I've held the series on in times past. It's not to say that THQ's WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 looks bad, but more to state that there hasn't really been an overall jump in improvement recently.

From a Create-A-Wrestler standpoint, there are a number of options included to customize your up and coming legend of wrestling, but again I was slightly disappointed. The system is certainly good and you can create a host of look-a-like players, but the system is not great like I had hoped and expected. There was a time when the series had a certain "wow" factor in this department, but I suppose that when a franchise like that of SmackDown vs. Raw has been so visually good for so long, it becomes hard to top.

Once again, wrestlers are voiced by their body building counterparts, which really adds a ton to the presentation and atmosphere of the game. While the voice acting (or maybe it's just the script) isn't all that good for certain individuals or at certain points in the game, there is still something to be said about actually hearing your favorites on-screen as you watch cut-scenes. Unfortunately, there are only a few different voices to choose from when it comes to created players, so trying to recreate the likes of Hollywood Hulk Hogan or the "Macho Man" Randy Savage can only be done skin-deep. I did find it unusual that there was a "JY Dog" lettering for pants, though, which was the only old-school wrester inkling that I noticed during the Create-A-Wrestler feature.

The announcer models are representative but not eye-popping by any means. Unfortunately, the presentation takes a bit more of a hit when it comes to the auditory side of the commentators. The play-by-play audio feels a bit too choppy and has needed improvement for quite some time. Like the broken up audio, don't be shocked when your wrestlers "pop" on the screen during double-team moves as well.

WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 offers up a multitude of wrestling options, from standard and hardcore match types to the Road to Wrestlemania and WWE Story Designer modes of play. The controls are pretty straightforward and easy to pick up and play as well. In fact, I actually love the combination between using the buttons and sticks to control and interact with your wrestler and the on-screen prompts for things like throwing opponents from the ring, performing special moves, and arguing with the ref. Some of these mini-games must be performed quickly, while others are more of a hint than anything.

The gameplay itself in this wrestling title does borderline between repetitive and interesting. I've found that grappling tends to yield good results as long as you mix it up a bit, but it is also too easy to reverse many moves after you've gotten used to the timing and visual clues to what your opponent is about to throw at you. The ring also felt a bit small in the sense that the ref would call "rope break" during pins all too often, forcing you to drag the downed opponent toward the center more than should be necessary (especially since the groggy opponent isn't actually touching the rope).

As far as fluidity goes, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 is a mixed bag. I love the transitions one can perform during grapple situations, but they also can get annoying when you don't mean to do it. Being able to double- and triple-team wrestlers is an awesome and easy-to-perform feature, but admittedly a choppy experience when people pop into position on-screen instead of having a fluid animation to do the same. While annoyances like this are ever-present in the game, they also are not deal breakers.

Most of your favorite classic match types are included in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, but strangely enough the list to choose from felt skimpy. The new meat and potatoes for this year, however, is in the interaction that your wrestlers can have when going through their stories. In the Road to Wrestlemania, you'll control your created player, a WWE Superstar, or one of the WWE Divas in an effort to become the king of the ring at the most popular sports entertainment facility in the world. Using your created wrestler, you'll start from a nothing that comes out of the crowd and have to work your way up to becoming the world champion of the WWE. The progression here is quite entertaining, in fact, even though the presentation has its share of problems and the paths you choose are quite linear in nature. You'll be able to choose a small amount of interaction, but for the most part, everything is scripted. The disappointing part of the story side of the game is that when you are defeated, the only way to progress the story is to have a rematch and beat your opponent instead of following a new path of redemption, for example. Not all things are rosy in the WWE, and neither should the storylines of its flagship videogame.

The storylines themselves are what holds one's attention, just like the real things. I do wish that some of the dialogue snippets and scripted interactions had a bit better timing, however, as there are often times of "dead space" where nothing is happening on-screen, neither visually nor audibly. But if you decide that the built-in storylines aren't for you, you can always jump into the WWE Story Designer to come up with your own. This feature is actually pretty sweet for a first run, but it definitely needs more work to reign supreme. Here, you'll be able to set up matches and meetings by going into a lot of detail, choosing which Superstars or Divas are involved in shouting matches, backstage brawls, or championship matches, just to skim the surface. Unfortunately, no vocal audio goes along with the scenes, which would have certainly made this feature near-perfect. The amount of detail you can go into is impressive nonetheless, allowing you to create an entire season worth of stories.

WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 also has a few online features above and beyond playing matches. After creating content, you'll be able to now put it up for grabs through Xbox Live. While the thought of going online is certainly appealing, my experience was far from stellar. To begin, it was difficult to get into a Quick Match because sessions that I got connected to ended before I could join. Once in a match, however, things only got worse. There was a horrible lag present that made it impossible to play without some sort of ESP to account for the 1 second delay between a button press and the actual move.

Different match types are generally what determines how difficult it is to win your bout against opponents without question. One-on-one matches of any type are generally relatively simple to get through. Some may take a bit longer and some may not, but the degree of difficulty is certainly not at the same level as when you are taking on multiple opponents at once. Any time you end up on the short end of a handicap match is when you can feel more pressure, although usually only when your opponents attack at the same time. When tagging partners in, matches become more manageable. This doesn't mean that they will stand aside and let you pin their partner, however, so be prepared for annoying interferences that seem to drag the match out for an eternity. Usually, you'll have to knock out the interfering opponent in order to end a match.

Another important factor that comes into play as far as difficulty goes is that when you're wrestling as your Created Superstar, your statistics are limited until you build them up. For example, as you progress through the Road to Wrestlemania feature, your original created wrestler starts out quite weak (my first guy was an overall 41, for example), but you'll be constantly building up his or her attributes after each and every match. One thing to note is that the better you do in terms of your victory, the more points you'll be able to distribute toward your character's overall attributes. If you put on a good performance, for example, you'll potentially also get bonus points for wowing the crowd. It does feel that the A.I. tends to evolve with your character, however, so playing as a rookie isn't impossible.

One thing to note is that the default difficulty level in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 is actually too easy, especially in one-on-one bouts. As you increase the number of on-screen opponents and up the actual difficulty setting, being able to conquer your opponent(s) gets exponentially harder. Online, you'll also face challenges that for some may be a piece of cake and for others will be extremely difficult. One important factor to remember while playing human opponents is that not all approaches will work the same, and certainly the method that is used for beating CPU-controlled wrestlers hardly ever works against humans. Special interactions (like throwing someone out of the ring during a Royal Rumble) will be determined by fast-twitch button presses, so this is a major factor while playing online. It should also be noted that the computer A.I., when fighting itself, is less than intelligent, to say the least.

I absolutely love the controls for WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010. The clever combination of using the Right Analog Stick to grapple combined with the ease of use for the rest of the controller makes this one a winner. The feeling of simply mashing buttons doesn't overwhelm like in most wrestling titles that have hit the market in the past. Grapples can be altered as well, and the reversal system generally works fairly nicely, although it can become annoying at the same time because of the one-button (RT) timing press that can be mastered. While some games have relied too heavily with on-screen button/controller prompts to deliver gameplay, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 only uses this tactic once in a while for special moves like lifting a player over the top rope or smashing their head into the nearest object as many times as you desire. The only issue that I had with controlling my Superstar was that running off the ropes and climbing the turnbuckles wasn't quite as smooth as it needed to be. Also, when fighting multiple opponents, the auto-switching does a fairly good job overall, but there are also times when manually switching needs to be done to prevent the occasional cheap shot coming from a wrestler that sneaks up behind yours.

In general, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010's control systems is very pick-up-an-play friendly, so anyone should be able to jump right in and begin whooping ass right away. Mastering reversals and learning sequences that yield great results can take some practice, but most should be able to figure out this countering system fairly easily. The default difficulty is generally too easy, so hardcore fans will likely want to bump it up out of the gate.

In a perfect world, this year's wrestling title would have more features and gameplay mechanics tweaked out. It would also have many more Legends in the game from years past to make it a killer game. Of course, the online aspect needs a ton of work in the gameplay department to eliminate the lag involved because, as it is, going online to play is pointless, if not extremely frustrating. With that said, it could also be safe to say that WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 is one of the better (offline) wrestling games of recent years in terms of fluid controls and just sheer fun. The enhanced Creation features impress and now have a great base to work from for future titles from the franchise. If it weren't for the shoddy online play, I would have highly recommended this title. As it is, however, I have to recommend first renting WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 before purchasing, but if next year's effort builds upon some of the great features in the game this year, it may truly impress.